Yahoo Groups Safety Guide

Yahoo Groups is an online community for connecting with people who share your interests and ideas. Through your own group or one of the thousands of existing groups, you can view and post messages, photos, polls, events and links to websites.

Basics of the Groups community

Individuals of all ages are welcome to use Yahoo Groups.

Those under the age of 18 have certain safety restrictions, including what types of group they can access.

Group owners can assign moderators to help manage the group activity. Yahoo doesn't operate or maintain any of the groups on Yahoo Groups. Instead, we give group owners the tools to create and run their own communities.

You on Groups

Yahoo ID: You can choose to use your Yahoo ID as your identity. This will be displayed when you post in your group.

Yahoo alias: Aliases can be used in place of your Yahoo ID. An alias is associated with your Yahoo ID but is a different screen name altogether. You can create an alias to be displayed when you post on Yahoo Groups. To select your alias:

On your group's main page, click Membership | Edit Membership.

Next to "Identity", click the pencil icon.

Select your desired alias, if one is available. If you don't already have an alias, click Manage your Yahoo Identities to create one. Be sure to keep this generic and don't use personal information.

Click Save.

What you should know

Types of group: Yahoo Groups is a diverse community, full of options for your interests and needs. There are three types of group, each with its own settings and level of privacy. Know what type of group you are joining and how it will affect the accessibility of the information that you share.

Public: Group content is visible to the public.

Membership is open to the public.

The group is listed in the Groups directory.

Restricted: Group content is visible to members only.

Membership requires approval by a group owner or moderator.

Private: Group content is visible to members only.

Membership is by invitation only.

The group is not listed in the Groups directory.

Email notifications: Yahoo Groups is interactive. Email notifications alert you to all the happenings in your group . You control how frequently you will be emailed in the "Edit Membership" section.

Owners and moderators have control: Owners and moderators have control: Got a question or concern about something posted in a group? Contact your group owners and moderators for guidance. To contact them, send an email to groupname-owner@yahoogroups.com (replace groupname with the exact name of the group).

Groups safety: Best practices

Think before you download: Group members can upload files, share links and more. Be careful not to download anything from an unfamiliar source.

Post with care: As a member of Yahoo Groups, what you post is visible to members of the group. Depending on the type of group, this information may also be readily searchable and accessible. Remember this when you post. Do not share personal information, and try to be a positive member of the community.

Report abusive images: Keep your group owners and moderators in the know. If you see an image in Yahoo Groups that you believe to be inappropriate for a group that you're a member of, report the abuse to the group owner(s)/moderator(s). If you think that the content is in violation of the Yahoo Terms of Service (TOS), report it to Yahoo. How to report abusive images.

Moderate responsibly: If you are a group owner or moderator, you can influence the community that you build. Be aware of both the Community Guidelines and Terms of Service . Know the available moderator controls – as well as the responsibilities – and don't hesitate to clean house as needed. Some general moderation tools include:

To ban another group member

On the group's main page, select Management | Manage Members.

To view a list of group moderators, click the Moderators tab.

Select the name of the member that you'd like to modify.

Click Actions.

In the "Actions" menu, under "Manage Members", choose the option Ban members.

Content moderation settings

On the group's main page, select Management | Control Panel.

Click Moderation and make your selection for both messages and photos. Options are:

Unmoderated. Any group member can post messages, and they'll appear immediately in your group. This is best for groups in which all members know each other or the moderator knows everyone.

Moderated. Any group member can still post messages, but new messages require approval before they are posted. This is best for groups where it is important for members to stay on topic or where there's a history of spam.

New members. Groups can also be moderated just for new members and later adjusted if a group moderator manually changes the member's moderation settings.